Zaydos Expands on Past Work - Playgrounder Caricatures Edition

[ImperatorV]

Permission granted. How do you feel about incorporating other people's homebrew? I've always wanted an army of mecha and crossing your Courtier with the Mecha Ace class from Base Class Challenge XXII or the super robot wars subsystem on minmax seems like a good way to do it.

If not, anything with minions and good versatility is fun. I like having people to do my dirty work while still being able to take care of myself.

[LoyalPaladin]

Reflected Sun - Lunar Path (LoyalPaladin)

That is awesome! I totally dig it.

[VoodooPaladin]

I know next to nothing about voodoo (good free resources would always be appreciated) and I know my ignorance would show badly because I know just enough to know you can't trust Hollywood on it at all, 2) might get close to the real world religion stuff.

Your restraint is appreciated. I likely don't know much more about it than you do: I was living in Louisiana at the time, but I've only picked up some vague folk practices. I actually know a good bit more about Christianity, Wicca, and northeastern Native American practices than I do about Voodoo. I have gleaned, however, that there are no less than four distinct sects of Voodoo, spread across three nations and the Atlantic ocean. Whenever I get confused about Voodoo, I just that part and then I don't feel so bad about it.

[tsj]

@zaydos: thanks for creating the tall tale archtype (s)


:-)

Do you have some info/link regarding the tall tale base class?

[Zaydos]

Permission granted. How do you feel about incorporating other people's homebrew? I've always wanted an army of mecha and crossing your Courtier with the Mecha Ace class from Base Class Challenge XXII or the super robot wars subsystem on minmax seems like a good way to do it.

If not, anything with minions and good versatility is fun. I like having people to do my dirty work while still being able to take care of myself.

Mecha Ace is more likely than most since I know the creator IRL and was the main sounding board for it so I know the class's math very, very well for something I didn't make.

Edit: Though there is one problem with incorporating Mecha-Ace and Courtier the first thing to come to mind is just putting Mecha-Ace on the tables for their retainers (it'd be same tier as Crusader). Though I do think I toyed with the idea of a theurge or alternate 'spell' system... it was an alternate spell system (like Bardic Courtier below) for Courtier using an Ace Mecha, I'd have to go back over that... unfortunately this never got to the write things down point and more just the toy with numbers in head point.

That is awesome! I totally dig it.

Glad to hear it.

Your restraint is appreciated. I likely don't know much more about it than you do: I was living in Louisiana at the time, but I've only picked up some vague folk practices. I actually know a good bit more about Christianity, Wicca, and northeastern Native American practices than I do about Voodoo. I have gleaned, however, that there are no less than four distinct sects of Voodoo, spread across three nations and the Atlantic ocean. Whenever I get confused about Voodoo, I just that part and then I don't feel so bad about it.

Me I tend not to know much about the New World stuff, more classic mythology, Norse myths, Egyptian, stuff I could easily find books on as a child.

@zaydos: thanks for creating the tall tale archtype (s)


:-)

Do you have some info/link regarding the tall tale base class?

Yes, as a rule of thumb anything expanded here is going to be linked in my sig (under the my homebrew link), and I really should link it in the post I just started forgetting (in my defense with the Techno-Surgical Juggernaut I had to go about 3 seconds after hitting send so I might have forgotten because was in an extreme rush).

[Zaydos]

Bardic Courtier – Courtier ACF (illayhr)

In some courts artistic skill is prized above all else, not power or financial acumen but sheer artistic talent. In such a court a courtier may learn not magic, nor the will of the divine, nor even martial prowess, but instead turn themselves towards the study of the arts and the bards’ songs.

A Bardic Courtier does not gain spellcasting at 4th level. Instead they gain 7 ranks in a Perform skill of their choice and 7 ranks in Craft (painting), Craft (poetry), Craft (calligraphy) or a similarly high class and aesthetic Craft skill (if this would put them at higher than Character level + 3 ranks in either skill the remainder are wasted). They gain a free rank in each of the chosen skills whenever they gain a Courtier level. In addition they gain Bardic Music and the ability to use one Bardic Music performance per 2 Courtier levels, but gain access to new varieties of Bardic Music at the same rate and levels as a bard, even gaining the same bonus to Inspire Courage. At 9th level they gain Skill Focus in either their chosen Perform or Craft skill gaining Skill Focus in the other at 15th level.

Design Notes: They gain nearly full bardic music performance not because I view them as so weak, Inspire Courage is good, but because they overlap so heavily with Inspire Ally except for Suggestion/Song of Freedom and I didn’t want to try and scrunch them into higher levels because that would just end up with a dead space from 5th to 8th and then too many abilities too quickly at 16th to 20th.

[Zaydos]

Blackhawk Academy – Planar Site (Blackhawk748)

Chant has it a tiefling going by the name of Tjaron the Black Hawk has founded himself an academy of the sword somewhere in the Sea of Stars, where the paraelemental plane of Smoke meets the quasielemental plane of Radiance. The academy has had no little success in teaching mercenaries involved in the djinn-efreet war; in fact it would seem that Tjaron has probably fought in that war himself. The academy teaches basic aerial combat, the so-called cloud drifting techniques of the airy planes, as well as a supernatural sword style that Tjaron claims was passed down by his family for generations.

If chant is to be believed the Academy is situated on a giant cinder that floats in a sort of orbit around a brass hemisphere upon which the efreet city of Erastabul is built. Now being so close to an efreet city, Erastabul almost certainly exists at their mercy, and chant is the Academy imports its food from the efreet’s farms in exchange for the training of an efreet noble from the house of J’dor and the house of Kellest, the two efreet houses who between them rule over Erastabul and its human population. In exchange for this training, and providing training to human and genasi soldiers for their war effort against the djinn, Tjaron’s school is tolerated and even allowed to prosper by the ruling efreet.

For a cutter looking to get access to the Academy there are a few ways to go about it. First one has to find Erastabul and the Academy. Now that isn’t too hard. Erastabul is on some planar maps, and as any berk knows a map helps a lot in moving about the Planes, a body has got to know where he’s going even if all he’s doing is walking in a straight line. Now not as true on the Inner Planes as the Outer ones, they’re less likely to zig away from you. Of course a map alone isn’t enough but if you can move about the Plane of Smoke you can reach the Academy. The next step, though, is getting admitted. It’s not a prestigious place with a millennia of heritage yet, but it is aligned with the efreet and that means you’ve got to put some effort into it. They don’t accept those who can’t prove their martial prowess, and the story goes that you’ve got to fight an efreet in non-lethal, and that’s a key word there, single combat with the sword. Now the good news is that the efreet won’t use its magic during the fight, won’t fly, it’ll be a straight up duel. The bad news is that the efreet will still change its size and that the non-lethal nature of the duel is one way; the efreet will feel perfectly free to kill you. Oh and when I say no magic, I mean absolutely none. Not a spell, not an item, they’ll scan you for auras and dispel you twice even if there isn’t one, now I’m sure it’s possible to get through with some magic active but a cutter has to be careful cheating against the efreet. Course this might just be chant and the trial by combat is probably easier as for the most part the students don’t seem capable of passing this test, but I can’t tell you the dark as I’ve not been there myself.

Even getting the chance to duel isn’t easy, though, a body has to be able to demonstrate that he isn’t loyal to the djinn to be admitted. Tjaron has a fire genasi lover who is a passable mage, and has been known to curse applicants with an inability to lie as part of the training process, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust no spellslinger to be cursing me, but still it might be relatively harmless. Even worse, though, is the mark of justice they place on you to make certain you don’t go and join the djinn later. You’ve also got to front the jink for admittance, still there’s worst places to train and you can learn some interesting techniques.

Course there is an ‘easier’ way to get in. Work as a mercenary for the efreet for 3 months, prove you’re worth it and they might pay for your training, and you can definitely get in without the trial by combat in that case. Of course this means 3 months fighting a war against djinn on a plane of noxious smoke, so I’m not sure that it’s really any easier.

Whatever the truth Blackhawk trained mercenaries are appearing all across Smoke, and they’re doing quite well. The Black Hawk’s smoke blade technique is a poor thing in a fight with an efreet, but not everything on Smoke is immune to fire in the same way, the djinn can withstand the temperature due to their planar nature and its resonance with Air, but they can’t handle the flame of the blade.

Spoiler: Techniques Trained

Show

Our Planar Guide made note of some special techniques taught at the Blackhawk Academy, both Cloud-Drifting which is common across Air, Lightning Radiance, Smoke, and Steam, and the Smoke Blade Technique. Now these aren’t just fluff, and it’d be rude not to give you some mechanics with which to use them.

Cloud-Drift [Movement; Skill Trick]:
You have learned to catch the wind with your cloak or cape, using it to glide and even soar for a time in combat.
Prerequisites: Jump 8 ranks.
Benefit: When wearing a stiffened cloak, cape, or other clothes that billow out from behind you with a certain straightness and in an area of Subjective Directional Gravity or strong or stronger winds you may jump and not come down. Make a high or long jump as normal, but at the top of the jump you spread your cloak and begin to glide, flying with a speed equal to your land speed and poor maneuverability. You may fly this way for 1 round per 3 ranks in Jump or until you land. While flying through Cloud-Drift you are not considered 1 size category smaller for the purposes of wind effects (normally flying creatures are considered 1 size smaller than they actually are for the purposes of wind).
Special: At the DM’s discretion Cloud-Drift technique can be taught at a military academy or training facility on any Inner Plane with Subjective Directional Gravity for 2,500 GP without requiring the normal 2 skill points or counting against the number of Skill Tricks you can know. This should generally require 30 hours of training a week for 4 weeks.

Smoke Blade Technique [General, Fighter, Feat]:
You have been taught the Blackhawk Academy’s signature technique, the Smoke Blade. With the smoke blade technique you tap into primal energies to transmute the blade of your sword into a mixture of steel and scalding smoke.
Prerequisites: Quick Draw, BAB +6, trained at Blackhawk Academy.
Benefit: 1/round per weapon when you draw your weapon you may make your next single melee attack with that weapon as a melee touch attack with +5 ft reach (this reach bonus is not doubled with a reach weapon), however half the damage from the attack is considered fire damage and affected by fire resistance and immunity (but not Damage Reduction). You must be wielding a Slashing weapon to benefit from this feat.
Special: A fighter may select Smoke Blade Technique as a bonus feat.
Special: This feat is considered to be Supernatural in nature.

Alternate Smoke Blade Technique for Swordsages:

Smoke Blade
Desert Wind (Strike)
Level: 4th
Prerequisites: 2 Desert Wind maneuvers.
Initiation Action: Standard action.
Range: Melee attack.
Target: 1 creature.
You transmute your weapon to a mix of iron and smoke, scalding and burning even as it flows through the smallest chink in their armor or defense.
As part of this maneuver make a single melee attack with a +5 ft increase to your melee reach (this is not doubled by a reach weapon). This attack is resolved as a melee touch attack and ½ the damage it deals is fire damage instead of normal damage (meaning it is affected by fire resistance and immunity (but not Damage Reduction). You may draw the weapon you use to make this attack as part of this maneuver.

This is a supernatural maneuver.

[Zaydos]

MECH IMPERATOR (Imperator V)

“Char Aznable says ‘Let the purge begin’!” – Char Aznable

Not every Courtier is unaffiliated with the military. Generals, commanders, famed marshals who led their countries through times of wars, all of these are often Courtiers. In times and places where armies march not on foot but within goliaths of metal so too do these military Courtiers. Warriors as much as politicians, they are grand generals, military shoguns, and imperators.

BECOMING A MECH IMPERATOR

To become a Mech Imperator one must couple a Courtier’s political acumen and leadership capabilities with the skill and power to fight on the front lines within an Ace Mecha.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Skills: Diplomacy or Intimidate 10 ranks
Skills: Knowledge (history) or Profession (siege engineer) 5 ranks.
Special: Retainers special ability.
Special: Inspire Ally special ability.
Special: Must possess an Ace Mecha and be able to use Lesser Modules.

Mech Imperator
The Mech Imperator’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (-), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis) and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skills Points at Each Level: 6 + int

Hit Dice: d4

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Ace Mecha, Critical Inspiration, Inspire Allies
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Commander’s Demeanor, Imperator’s Presence +1
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Greater Revenue
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Squad Leader
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	-
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Imperator’s Presence +2
7th	+5	+2	+5	+5	Force Leader
8th	+6	+2	+6	+6	Tactical Command
9th	+6	+3	+6	+6	-
10th	+7	+3	+7	+7	Grand General, Imperator’s Presence +3

Weapon Proficiencies: A Mech Imperator gains no new armor or weapon proficiencies.

Ace Mecha: Levels in Mech Imperator stack with Mecha Ace levels for determining all qualities and traits of your Ace Mecha including level of modules accessed, size progression, ability scores, potency and so forth. In short it gains all Mecha Ace class features except Hands of the Mechanist.

Inspire Allies: Levels in Mech Imperator stack with levels in Courtier to determine the effectiveness of your Inspire Allies ability and to gain the Inspiring Words and Swift Inspiration class features (note this later would require a 22nd level character).

Critical Inspiration (Ex): A Mech Imperator is a battlefield commander, tried and tested time and time again on the front lines. They cannot always stop to calmly direct their allies as a Courtier is wont to do, but on occasion must rally friends at the last moment to seize victory from the very jaws of defeat. Once per day a Mech Imperator may use Inspire Ally as a swift action and affect each ally within 60 ft which can hear them, all allies gain the same benefit.

Commander’s Demeanor (Ex): A Mech Imperator is a commander, their very bearing and every movement tells of this. A Mech Imperator suffers a penalty to Disguise checks to disguise themselves as someone not in a commanding position (though it does not have to be military) equal to ½ their class level, however they gain a bonus to Disguise checks to pass themselves off as a military officer (in another military), and Bluff checks involving passing themselves off as any sort of authority figure equal to ½ their class level and an equal bonus to all Diplomacy and Intimidate checks.

Imperator’s Presence (Ex): A Mech Imperator is always taking in the field of battle looking at it with a keen eye and offering key and momentary orders and rallying cries. Beginning at 2nd level any ally other than the Mech Imperator within 60 ft that can be seen by the Mech Imperator and can hear the Mech Imperator gains a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls, weapon damage, and Will saves. At 6th level this improves to +2, and at 10th level it increases further to +3.

Greater Revenue (Ex): A Mech Imperator possesses the connections, hereditary holdings, or just plain social acumen to seemingly make money out of thin air. At 3rd level a Mech Imperator gains the Greater Revenue ability of a Courtier and the Revenue ability if they did not have it.

Squad Leader: What use is a commander without troops to lead? Of what value are commoners and smiths upon the battlefield itself? Beginning at 4th level a Mech Imperator may replace the followers provided with their Retainers ability with Magewrights, and Mecha Aces. They may still select Commoners, Experts, and Warriors as well.

Force Leader: A Mech Imperator is no mere sergeant, or lieutenant, they are a leader of a true force. Beginning at 7th level the number of followers granted to you by your Retainers ability is doubled.

Tactical Command (Ex): A Mech Imperator must always be ready to command and advice. As such a Mech Imperator may use Inspire Ally or Inspirational Words as a swift action once per encounter.

Grand General: Even if not given an official position a Mech Imperator is a born general and forces flock to their banner. At 10th level the number of followers granted by Retainers is increased to x4 (this does not stack with Force Leader), and for every 2 Lv 6 followers you possess you gain a Lv 7 follower, for every 2 level 7 followers you gain a Lv 8, and if you have 2 Lv 8 followers you gain a Lv 9. You automatically are considered to have Great Renown and Special Power for the purposes of Leadership.

[ImperatorV]

Oh my goooooosh. That. Is. Amazing. I love it!

I usually leave my sig empty but this deserves to go in it.

[Blackhawk748]

Pure unadultered awesomeness

This. Is.....



No Leonidus, awesome. Awesome!!

[Zaydos]

Oh my goooooosh. That. Is. Amazing. I love it!

I usually leave my sig empty but this deserves to go in it.

-snipped image-

This. Is.....

-snipped image-

No Leonidus, awesome. Awesome!!

Thank you, I do enjoy writing planar fluff, though this reminds me I ought to make some Lower Planar sites and the like and dump them in some sort of Blood War/Lower Planar equivalent to Mundus Primordialis.

And I now want to rewatch the 1960s 300 Spartans movie (which convinced me as a child Sparta was fairly synonymous with awesome).

[Blackhawk748]

Thank you, I do enjoy writing planar fluff, though this reminds me I ought to make some Lower Planar sites and the like and dump them in some sort of Blood War/Lower Planar equivalent to Mundus Primordialis.

And I now want to rewatch the 1960s 300 Spartans movie (which convinced me as a child Sparta was fairly synonymous with awesome).

I loved all the crazy jargon that was in it, makes me wanna check out Planescape

[Zaydos]

I loved all the crazy jargon that was in it, makes me wanna check out Planescape

Yeah, I still remember when I got

at Borders as a kid, it might actually be the first non-core D&D book I ever got (it or the Complete Book of Dwarves). It was beautiful, and I loved the genasi, and aasimar (though my older brother had the Monstrous Compendium which introduced those), and tieflings, and it was just so many worlds full of wonder. In the back it had a glossary of planar slang (i.e. crazy jargon) and I kept thinking I recognized some. Wasn't till I was reading Chaucer in highschool that I knew for sure that yes I recognized some and that it was a large amount of Middle English (and as Planar Common is slightly Infernal influenced common this suggests that Infernal is Middle English ). The language of it, though, the slang that is, was just so neat as a kid, it really worked to create an atmosphere of foreigness, like this isn't just another place, but somewhere new and different.

I got Spelljammer books before the Planescape Box Set, though, and Spelljammer was my absolute favorite setting as a child, but as I matured Planescape moved to the front and has sort of stuck, I like that there's so much room to put in your own things, but there's still a good core to build off of.

[Draconium]

Well well well, what have we here? A chance for Zaydos to expand his homebrew based on playgrounders in a semi-serious environment?



... I'm interested. Permission granted.

Now, I'm not familiar with every single aspect of your homebrew, if only because there's so much of it, but some particular pieces of your homebrew I enjoy is your Dragonsoul Acolyte and Dragon Knight, (for... obvious reasons). I also liked your True Dragon project, but there's so many of those already, so I'm not gonna ask for another one.

Oh, and if you make any variants, just know that when I play, I like to do obscene amounts of damage - it may not be the most optimal tactic, put it sure is fun!

[Zaydos]

Well well well, what have we here? A chance for Zaydos to expand his homebrew based on playgrounders in a semi-serious environment?

-snip the highly appropriate/dueling gif-

... I'm interested. Permission granted.

Now, I'm not familiar with every single aspect of your homebrew, if only because there's so much of it, but some particular pieces of your homebrew I enjoy is your Dragonsoul Acolyte and Dragon Knight, (for... obvious reasons). I also liked your True Dragon project, but there's so many of those already, so I'm not gonna ask for another one.

Oh, and if you make any variants, just know that when I play, I like to do obscene amounts of damage - it may not be the most optimal tactic, put it sure is fun!

o.O There are 3 surprising things about this post (from least to most):

1) That it took you so long

2) Someone actually read the dragon knight, this is the first evidence I've had of that (ok it got like 80 views at the time but that's not proof it got read).

3) Someone actually liked the dragon knight. I thought it was completely forgotten.

[Draconium]

To be fair, I read the Dragon Knight class literally right before I posted. It's definitely interesting, and it seems like something I'd like to try out one day. Though to be perfectly honest, I'd probably try the Acolyte first.

[ImperatorV]

o.O There are 3 surprising things about this post (from least to most):

1) That it took you so long

2) Someone actually read the dragon knight, this is the first evidence I've had of that (ok it got like 80 views at the time but that's not proof it got read).

3) Someone actually liked the dragon knight. I thought it was completely forgotten.

Hey I read the dragon knight! It's a pretty good class too, it's just by the time I found it I'd read like 30 Dragon Disciple reduxes so it seemed kinda done.

I've read pretty much all the base classes in your signature at some point. I think a bunch of other people probably have too.

[Zaydos]

Dragon Knight, like Luck Blessed and Dragon Chorister, is a half-baked idea I had while working out and made primarily while working out. It's really just a paladin variant.

Dragonsoul Acolyte is just a much cooler class, and was a lot more effort. It gets unique abilities instead of slightly modified paladin abilities. I'd joke about being insulted if you preferred dragon knight except... it'd be too close to the truth

Hey I read the dragon knight! It's a pretty good class too, it's just by the time I found it I'd read like 30 Dragon Disciple reduxes so it seemed kinda done.

I've read pretty much all the base classes in your signature at some point. I think a bunch of other people probably have too.

I'm assuming Dragon Disciple is being used loosely for dragon follower and not the PrC (in which case it'd be closer to a paladin redux with Dragonsoul actually being the Dragon Disciple redux with some Dragon Totem Shaman thrown in).

And there are ones I find referenced in places, Tall Tale and to a lesser extent Doomsayer and Incarnation, and then there's ones I've never seen anyone mention before and which never got responses (this is literally the first time I've seen dragon knight get mentioned by anyone... almost including myself).

[tsj]

@zaydos: wow... your tall tale base class is very very cool :-) and so is the archetype :-)

It will also be a very cool class to use with the KAI disciplines in the lone wolf d20 series of books....

They will fit right in if I select an associated
skill for each discipline

Nice!

[Zaydos]

Animeido Ruin Delver Variant (khadgar)

In anime the maid, or in some cases butler, is oh so often some sort of Jeevesian ubermensch (or a literal demon) who has mastered every skill, and is capable of performing any task with surprising ease and not just of performing a task but of making it so that their master can somehow bumble through the deed themselves.

As such there are many potential options for a maid in 3.5. Rogue would be the classic answer due to their skill points, factotum would be a better answer a minor dabbling in magic is more than acceptable to the archetype when ported into D&D (in fact when you think about the general competence in all fields of human endeavors the lack of it is one of rogue’s failings to fulfill it), binder and incarnate also theoretically fill the role.

However few of them actually work to help other characters. For that you have to go the Dragon Magazine Compendium class Savant. Savant probably comes the closest but it has difficulty passing competently at anything. It doesn’t quite fulfill the archetype.

That is where the Ruin Delver comes in. Unabashedly inspired by the Savant’s dual Arcane and Divine spellcasting and Skill Assistance abilities, the Ruin Delver adds abilities to round it out into something closer to factotum in potential.

So let’s see about making it into a maid. And just for fun we’re taking this step by step with the backstage view. Not saying that this is the right way to do things, but just attempting to analyze my own processes a bit.

Spoiler: LONG

Show

Step #1 - Idea/Concept: This has already been spilled out above. The basic idea is the omnicompetent anime maid (not all anime maids are omnicompetent)/Jeevesian butler. The assistant who can do something of everything. In a show they’re either teaching the tops of their fields or a 2nd stringer in everything. As we can’t have the first of those two things we have to go for the second. The second part of the idea/concept is that it’s a Ruin Delver Variant, which means we’ll have to go through Ruin Delver and look at what needs to be changed and why. The third, or really zeroth, part is that khadgar has a maid fixation so this should fit ‘em pretty well.

Step #2 - The Mechanics What Needs to be Changed: For the most part Ruin Delver gets minor arcane and divine casting, a large and varied spell list, Medium BAB, and ½ as many bonus feats as a fighter. This lets them fill in the 4 classic D&D roles fairly well with Fighter/Melee being their weakest point; they have to buff and play like a slightly subpar gish for that, but they can use touch spells, spells such as wraithstrike, and eventually higher level clerical buffs such as divine power. The Jeevesian butler while competent in a fight, fights smart so while this isn’t ideal it is acceptable, however we will be coming back to this.

So let’s look at specific abilities.

Skills: Mostly checks out, needs Forgery (for spotting them), doesn’t need Survival, if something else stood out as ‘drop me’ I’d add Disguise instead but nothing does and they don’t need Disguise that much, Disguise Self or Hat of Disguise, and Dabbler is more than enough there.

Weapons and Armor: Medium armor allows pretty much anything they’d need while encouraging lighter armor which is more fitting for the archetype. Shield proficiency may be unnecessary but it is not egregious enough to necessitate removal (nor is it in all earnest that important as a Mw Light Shield or Mithral Heavy Shield doesn’t penalize you in any way for non-proficiency) especially given the weakness of sword and board. Simple weapons is perhaps a little low, but they do get their choice of a single martial weapon which allows them a fully functional ranged weapon (composite longbow) or a good melee weapon (falchion) and works as a 2nd string combatant. Might drop shield proficiency to give them an excuse to have a 2nd martial weapon proficiency. It is a slight power boost (see Mw Light Shield) but it shouldn’t be too important.

Spells: Arcane spells with a focus on Transmutation. As Transmutation includes such spells as Fabricate, Stone Shape, and Move Earth it’s almost acceptable, but we may consider either removing the early access (note here it means they only gain spells of their highest spell level in that school, they still get it at a bard-like rate) school, a large loss which needs to be replaced with something that in some way scales with level, or changing it. Abjuration or Divination both work conceptually, though either is a reduction in power, after all Transmutation has the best self-buffs. Still it’s a thing to keep in mind, maybe even give both Abjuration and Divination, or possibly create a list from PHB and Spell Compendium of spells that can buff others or do maidly jobs and add them. Still this is a big ability intertwined with many others so while we want ideas of what we’re doing before moving forward we don’t want to fix any in place.

Divine spells on the other hand grant early access only to Conjuration (Healing) this is both weaker than early access to Transmutation, even though it grants higher level spells (getting 7th at 18th), and more appropriate. While this means they do not gain access to some key divine spells (Create Food and Water, Make Whole) until higher level healing is very much the supporter/servant ability. So while we do need to keep this in mind it doesn’t set up immediate mental flags like the Transmutation access.

Archeologist: So this ability has to go. While Appraise bonus is not too out there for a butler (or anime maid) the fluff doesn’t fit at all, nor does Decipher Script, besides buying things shouldn’t be the focus for the maid. So this will need to be replaced. Of course look at the skills it grants. Appraise is just not used half the time, and Decipher Script is outdone by a 1st level spell, they’re things that are important to the, objectively rather schizoid, concept of the Ruin Delver and at the same time not mechanically likely to be impactful. It doesn’t matter if they’re madly good at these skills they won’t come into play. So what could we replace that with for a maid? Profession of course. Now this is slightly more impactful, I mean +1 GP/week of downtime is slightly impactful, but unless you have multiple months of downtime each level, and don’t engage in money making schemes, it is unlikely to matter. So we’ll go with something like Profession (maid), (butler), (valet) and/or (servant) checks, and any check made to clean or repair an object. One is pretty useless and one is quickly made obsolete by a low level spells. Call the ability natural servant.

Bonus Feat: Ruin Delver might be edging a bit too strong on the magic side compared to melee and we could ‘fix’ that here by removing the Metamagic feats as options, but for the most part the bonus feats are fine. We have a few that are odd (Brachiation) but it isn’t worth the effort to change the list. This is functional.

Mental Specialty: This will be the real meat of things, or at least its improvements will be. I mean mechanically the benefits of choosing Intelligence are all functional and actually very fitting for an Intelligence focused Butler, but don’t quite fit the full maid archetype which while keeping a sizeable Intelligence is likely to focus more on Wisdom or even dump both and just go with high Charisma. Besides if we didn’t change this it’d just be a refluff with a minor ability changed since changing spellcasting would change this significantly especially for Int. So we must now ponder how to change this. I will go on to the rest of the class features before coming back to this since it will not be a minor tweak like has been suggested with Weapon Proficiencies, Archaeologist, and even Spellcasting, but will necessitate actual brewing.

Trap Sense: Not inappropriate for a maid. A little odd to put that special emphasis on traps as maids shouldn’t really have to be finding them. Secret doors and search in general is much more appropriate, after all a maid must be able to make sure everything is in its right place. So while an easily available acf would work it’s not worth brewing something new for, at least not yet, still something to keep in mind for if something occurs that is particularly functional.

Trapfinding: Unlike Trap Sense, this sort of ability to notice the slightest thing out of the normal is necessary for a butler/maid character and would end up on even if building it as a base class from the ground up. So we’ll pass on without further comment.

Skill Instructor/Teamwork Skill: And this is why we’re starting from Ruin Delver for this, so they’re going to remain unchanged. They work for what they do, and that is allow the full party to pass skill challenges and provide skill assistance.

Quick Search: This ability might not end up on a maid built from the ground up, but it does fit. A maid cleans and a heroic one ought to know when anything is out of place, even if not in their house. On the butler side it’s their job to make sure the other servants haven’t messed up and everything is in fact in its job requirements. So both should have this sort of detail oriented perception so it’s in, and while not something that would likely occur to me making the class from the ground up it’s an ability that adds some depth and well I shouldn’t have told you all this because then I could look kakko ii.

Adrenaline Surge: I’d forgotten this ability existed. It helps with the melee thing. While the round per day is low (~1 encounter per day) it works. It allows the maid/butler to put forth an awesome showing for the climatic fight or the duel to protect their master but not be dominant in combat on a regular basis. Score.

Automatic Search: This is really just an extension of Quick Search and the logical conclusion. They can notice when something is out of place.

Dabbler: This is the other ability that makes a Ruin Delver the natural choice. While not as good at skills as someone who focused in them, a ruin delver is good at everything, the standard omnicompetent type. They won’t be great at anything at low levels and perhaps an improvement to dabbler as part of the Mental Aspect replacement is something to be considered (perhaps an additional +2 ranks at 11th).

Skill Mastery: A butler must have a cool head under pressure.

Expert Aid: Again this is a ‘I am a good helper’ ability that makes Ruin Delver a good base for a Maid class.

Instant Search: A further advancement to Quick Search not much to say.

Master Arcanum: Likely to be a sticking point. It’s a capstone. It might not seem like much to get at 20th level, but 8th level spells are in fact really powerful on their own. Capstones are also hard to make. Might replace it with any 6th level or lower wizard or cleric spell as an SLA where you have to pay XP and material component costs 1/day, not as much raw power as an 8th level spell but the versatility should help make up for it and it works a bit better with the omnicompetent aspect, you always have the right spell for the job. Though I think I’d prefer something of a less magical nature if I can think of one.

Step #3 – Go Back Over Mechanics and Actually Make Things: So now we go back over the stuff, specifically the Mental Specialty, Spells, and Master Arcanum.

Mental Specialty: Ok, here we look at it in earnest, or not really Mental Specialty but the abilities that build off of it. Mental Specialty itself should and will stay, mostly because Maids are not so focused as a character archetype as to necessitate a specific mental ability score. They’re either Intelligent, Wise, played for Charismatic elements, or just inept and a heroic maid class can’t be the last, those would be maids who aren’t part of the class, but they aren’t always one of those three in excess of the other two (they’re usually quite well rounded mentally).

Now normally the improvements improve their spells, but I don’t think we want that. We want to slightly de-emphasize the spells as they’re already over emphasized. So let’s see what we can replace them with.

The first question is do we want to keep there being multiple trees? I’d say yes if it isn’t too difficult. Which means let’s start work with one. I’m going to call it the ‘skillful maid’.

We need a 3rd level ability roughly equal to Lore or a Familiar… which are two horribly unequal abilities (one is nice but not super good and the other ranges from really powerful with the right buffs or intelligent use and the right DM to being a downright liability), and a domain which is probably the best of the three (as you can get a familiar with a feat at this level anyway). Now Lore could remain but with skillful maid support is a keyword, so I think a better one is Class level + Mental Specialty mod times per day use Aid Another as a swift action. Originally I was thinking 1/encounter, aka give an ally a +4 to something 1/encounter without eating your turn, and at 7th if you have Skill Mastery it’s a +6. Not super powerful but useful, but then I remembered the limits in combat (range, next attack only) so I decided to make it be roughly 6 times per day and increase to enough to make it 1/round if only used during combat (and you rarely need to use it as a swift action out of combat). Will have to give some details for using Aid Another twice in one round with it (can’t use it on the same skill check, if used on attack rolls or AC it applies to the next attack or against a different foe each time, chosen when used).

At 11th level we have no applicable existing abilities and besides we’ve already got a concept for something new. Dabbler increases by 2 ranks so that you have 6, get 8 at 14th, and end with 11 at 20th. It comes out as a +2 to all skills nothing game changing, but nothing to sneer at either. It also needs to increase the max ranks Dabbler can increase things to by 2 so there’s still some reason to put ranks in things you’re dabbling with.

At 17th level we need something else new. And here is where it gets hard. Here we’re replacing a limited spell slot of each level 0 through 5, along with easier use of divine (mostly redundant) divinations or a 2nd domain, or the ability to share spells out to a mile, communicate with full telepathy, and a bonus feat. So we need something but it shouldn’t be a game changer. Now could go with ranged Aid Another or a sort of Lingering Aid Another where instead of being on one attack/AC against one attack it’s on all attacks and not target specific, but that feels a little boring, and pretty much means 1/round an ally gains +4 to attack rolls or AC and with what all else they have (theurgy, Dabbling, Skill shenanigans) that might be a bit too much. It occurs to me I could go with giving them a Tall Tale Exaggerated Skill (Lesser or Greater) because that’s my answer to everything, but that’d be a bad choice. So I return to thinking and considering. Next thought is an X/day +20 to a skill check. Yeah it’s a low level factotum ability that’s usable 1/day per skill but it’s still fairly powerful. However they already can cast Divine Insight to get a +15 to a skill check as a 2nd level spell. So that leaves my brain stalled.

To help it through it I think about the other two paths: Yojimbo and Ninja Maid. The former because it really is often their job in media to act as bodyguard as well as manservant, and the latter because khadgar.

Ninja maid will be first because it’s easier. Level 3 they gain Sudden Strike +1d6 and the ability to cast Invisibility and Improved Invisibility through their “Transmutation” only spell slots and to prepare such spells without a spellbook. In short to easily turn invisible, though, looking at it I’m still worried it’s not until high level that they get plenty of uses, still it doesn’t have to be great and even if it is just the 1st round of combat it’s still something that adds up, it also encourages them to feint in combat. The more I think about it, however, the more unsatisfying it seems and I’m tempted to replace Sudden Strike with Sneak Attack but that’s probably too much (I mean they have ½ fighter feats and spells, and skills, and).

With that in mind it gives me an idea for 11th. It becomes Sneak Attack instead of Sudden Strike and increases to 2d6. It’s really just a martial stance (assassin’s) but it stacks with Assassin’s Stance and getting Assassin’s Stance requires build effort which they can do but getting it for free is still meaningful.

That brings us to the 17th level you don’t get 9th level spells but at least you get something ability and that one is easy. +2d6 sneak attack! Leaving them only 5d6 behind a rogue… oh and an Assassin’s Death Attack. That’s the real thing here. Might drop the sneak attack to 3d6. Yeah let’s say 3d6 for now cleaner progression.

Which leaves us with the 17th level ability for Skillful Maid and Yojimbo. Since I’m still at a lost for Skillful Maid let’s move to Yojimbo.

With Yojimbo there are two a few paths we could take: general front line combatant, defensive benefits for allies, or give them a charge and benefits when protecting them. I say the third but we can in theory mix the three. Except I had to get up to let a cat in and thought of the 17th level ability for the other while doing so.

17th level Skillful Maid when you use Aid Another add your Mental Specialty modifier to their roll as well, in addition select one ability score, whenever you make a skill check based on that ability score you add your Mental Specialty modifier to it. Not the biggest still, but means you can add ~+11 to someone else’s skill check or +9 to their first attack roll almost ensuring a hit. Not huge, but hey you’re comparing it to +1d6 to damage and Death Attack so.

That leaves us with the Yojimbo path. Again I’m still leaning towards the 3rd route at least in part so let’s start with 3rd level.

You gain +1 hp per character level, and you gain a Charge. This Charge is a creature you are charged with protecting. Changing your Charge requires a standard action and may only be done once per day. Whenever a creature attacks you Charge (this includes anything which would break an invisibility spell) you gain a +1 to attack and +1d6 to damage against that creature for 1 round. Remember to think about whether this should be typed (probably morale) or untyped, I’d say morale for fluff.

At 11th level your charge gains a +2 to AC as long as they are within your melee reach and you would not be denied your Dex bonus to AC if you were the one receiving the attack, and the bonus to attack and damage when your ward is attacked increased to +2 and +2d6 respectively. In addition you gain a +2 bonus to Concentration and Wisdom based skill checks. Was going to make it Weapon Focus but I felt giving them something to improve Spot/Listen was more important. This is worse than +2 ranks from Dabbler, but ignoring that it adds to Profession (since that’s pretty pointless) it’s +2 to a sizeable number of skills and as an actual +2 allows you to actually be better at those skills than other people who max them as opposed to merely letting you max more skills (it’s specialization versus versatility).

At 17th level you gain Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat and may make an attack of opportunity against any creature that attacks your charge. In addition you gain DR 3/- against any attack you are not flat-footed against.

That finishes up Mental Specialty, spells was decided a while ago, even if I haven’t written it down, so that just leaves Master Arcanum

Spells: I say that but I still haven’t stated that yes I decided to go with Abjuration + Divination in place of Transmutation. It pushes them away from overt casting with less flashy effects, more stuff that can be done behind the scenes, and the transmutation effects aren’t as necessary as I feared with Adrenaline Rush.

Master Arcanum: With de-emphasizing casting this becomes even more important to swap out. A possible idea is some sort of loyalty thing, or even just immunity to mind-affecting (i.e. nerfed mindblank since they could pick that up with the old one). But they don’t have any previous loyalty things, though I now want to swap trap sense for a bonus on saves against Charm and Compulsion possibly with the condition that it only applies when they would work to the detriment of the maid’s employer, and it’d be really out of the blue to just throw one in at 20th level. Since I’m falling asleep now I’m going to go to bed and probably think of something while failing to actually sleep. Especially since I know there’s an idea that occurred to me multiple times but I had to do something before I wrote it and I forgot it.

Continuing in the morning I remember what kept occurring to me. Pattern of Excellence: Take 10 on all skills even if rushed/threatened. As you already have Skill Mastery for 5 skills this isn’t as big as I’d like for a replacement for an 8th level spell (one of these can win an encounter the other won’t except by letting you use a scroll a little easier) so I throw in something a little more unique 1/round you may take 10 on an attack roll. In addition you may choose Attacks as if they were a skill for Skill Instruction in which case you instruct allies to use your BAB in place of their own, however this skill instruction only lasts a maximum of 1 minute after the Maid stops it or 1 round per round they were instructing. We add this, despite this being at-will so that we can add clause about how it uses the Maid’s current BAB when they are last instructing allowing them to use Divine Power to instruct everyone to have +20 BAB or Adrenaline Rush while not letting them turn Divine Power into a 20 minute buff.

With that we move on to stage 4

Step #4 – Fluff: A sometimes onerous but truly necessary part of class design. Fluff. Now usually with an archetype/ACF you don’t need much (for homebrew), and with this I could probably get by with just a general description of Jeeves/hypercompetent maids/etc, but I feel like it needs more to be perfect.

So we start.

The first part will be the general description, in fact the first paragraph of this before it became a rant about the why was and is the start of fluffing. Now in a real book I’d not start with this, I’d take a less casual/referential approach but this is just some forum homebrew and this is the quickest most direct approach to take and the register required is not the same (fully professional would seem a little odd in this situation when ultimately it is a referential class).

After the re-used first paragraph we’d move on to writing a bit more.

The Maid, or Valet (choosing this name because it does not imply the high rank that Butler does but is the birthplace of many modern Butler tropes especially those that the class emphasizes) if male, is a perfect servant, a supporter for their master, a dabbler in all skills known to man able to perform, if not excel, in all things and to even excel in a variety of fields based upon their deepest focus. They dabble in sorcery, piety, and warfare to better protect and serve their master, working not only to fulfill their needs but even to predict them and ensure the task is all but done by the time their employer becomes aware of it.

From there we move down through the other sections, or at least that’s my approach. The re-fluffing here is total enough that while I do re-read Ruin Delver’s that’s more because I’ve forgotten what it is than any hope it’ll help me write this (other than just a reminder of what each section is).

Adventures is easy… Adventures: A maid is a servant, a valet a gentleman’s gentleman, and the most common reason for them to adventure is because their employer wished it. Whether they adventure alongside their (foolish) employer to keep them alive, or adventure for the pay their employer provides while remaining safely at home, it is in the service of another that a maid adventures. In rarer cases a maid will take to adventuring when between proper employment, using this as a chance to develop and hone the wide variety of skills required for perfect service.

Characteristics proves me wrong, it is fully functional for the maid (unsurprising actually since it’s just a description of what they can mechanistically do), and all I need to do is change serial numbers.

Alignment however needs changes but again mostly writes itself. There is a few keywords to remember with the maid/butler/valet archetype. 1) Service. 2) Loyalty. 3) Competence. While Competence shouldn’t in theory influence alignment the other two are quite defining. So we start with those and write, and fight down the urge to make it so you must be Lawful to progress in Maid… a losing battle. Chaotic allows for a yandere maid, but in truth so does Lawful Evil…
Alignment: A maid is usually a willing servant, someone who is mentally prepared to follow their lord or lady not because their lord is more capable than them in any given circumstance but because they are a follower not a leader. As such maids cannot be Chaotic with the overwhelming majority being Lawful. Neutral maids are a rarity but they do exist, caring for a personal loyalty, possibly one between family lines for generations, or following someone they believe is a true leader. For a Neutral maid loyalty is the most important aspect of service. A Lawful maid is more likely to be aware of their social status, of how social status can transcend competence and wealth, and how duty is paramount. Loyalty does remain a prime concern for a Lawful maid, but it is an aspect of duty and not the only one which is important.

Maids come in both Good and Evil, with a tendency towards Neutrality. They are defined more by an orientation towards Loyalty and Duty to their employer, or the house that employs them. As such they typically lack the personal greed and selfishness of evil, but also the strong guiding morals that place all creatures as important. Good maids must either luckily find a Good lord or lady or must face a decision between Loyalty and Good which often ends with Loyalty winning. Evil maids have more freedom but by their nature have already in ways chosen against Evil.

This brings us to background and we must think about what sort of background produces the traditional Gentleman’s Gentleman, or Japan’s hypercompetent servant-maid. In both cases it’s the same, they come from a family of servants, they may not have served the same family for generations but they often have, etc. So we go from there.

Background: Most maids are raised into the profession, many come from long lines of servants their life dedicated to training to support a master from youth. The rare maid who wasn’t born into the work is often adopted by their future master’s family, raised to be a protector of their master from youth, or failing that in some way owes their original master for their life, not just in escaping death, but in escaping a life of miserable poverty and having the opportunity to learn their skills. Gratitude is a common source of duty.

We move on to Races. Here we have to do some thought. Human is always a given. Somehow humans are the proportionate to their population most common member of most every class. 10% of humans are every class. Don’t ask me how. Still let’s look at the PHB races. Gnomes don’t do the hereditary servant thing, it’s rather antithetical to their relatively egalitarian ways. Elves are a fluff tangle where this is involved, RAW they’re usually Chaotic Good, but when you look at elf societies that are actually used many of them are full of lifelong honor bonds, intricate concepts of honor which restrain their actions, and decadent noble courts that seem to be drawn from the Noldor of The Silmarillion matching Lawful Neutral better than Chaotic Good. So I have to decide which of two contradictory bodies of elf fluff I want to follow and that’s hard. The Chaotic Good is easier to follow, something to dismiss quickly and less likely to be questioned as it follows what the PHB says. Which lets us move on to the races likely to be maids. Dwarves are full of families that are loyal to another family for generations, loyalty and duty are the keywords of dwarven life, dwarf maids work, and their Con bonus at least makes up for their Charisma penalty as they can select their primary mental stat. Halflings they aren’t a perfect fit, but with Samwise Gamgee being one of our 5 classic examples they’re all based on I have to put them on the yes pile, though the 180 of halfling fluff between 2e and 3.0 which then was partially reversed because of reasons, gives a bit of the elf problem. Half-Orcs are an oddity. They make some sense, I mean accepted into human society due to a noble’s influence they become the loyal servant to the family, and attempt to excel in everything to prove they are worth full inclusion into human society. Half-elves are even more likely, an ostracized group likely to be the illegitimate children of a house, given a place as long as they support their legitimate cousins. So we’ve got an idea for the common races and might want to touch on any noteworthy non-core or else a bit about orcs and goblinoids. It’s tempting to dismiss the more bestial humanoids but hobgoblins are Lawful, and goblinoid religion does push goblins to act as the servants of hobgoblins so a goblin maid makes sense. So it’s time to write races.

Races: A true maid is a rarity among human cultures, they exist but for every hundred servants a single true maid is uncommon. They exist, however. Maids are more common among dwarves and halflings. Dwarves have a tradition of loyalty and duty, of branch families which exist to serve the head family of their clans, as such dwarves may be the most likely race to produce a maid. Halfling maids while rarer than dwarves are common among halfling servants, a strong tradition of loyalty existing. Gnomish maids are all but unheard of, few gnomes work as servants and fewer still serve as such throughout their entire lives, and even those who do rarely see themselves as servants first and foremost. Elven maids are another extreme rarity as, like with gnomes, there are few lifelong servants, however those that do exist are almost certain to be maids, combining elven pride in one’s work with elven dabbling to create a perfect maid. Half-elves and half-orcs are unlikely to have been born into a tradition of service, but they are likely to be born into a state of ostracism and low social standing from which a life of service as a gentleman’s gentleman is one possible escape, and a method with which to raise the standing of your own child so that they do not have to continue the tradition.

Among the less accepted humanoids maids are most common among goblins and hobgoblins. The former are, by Maglubiyet’s doctrine the inferior of the two races and to be kept as servants and slaves by their superiors, many preferring to be the loyal, and well rewarded, servant to being the disloyal and punished slave. Hobgoblin maids are common as well, usually serving those who hold positions of civil authority.

With races done we move on to Other Classes and I fume and fume. Ruin Delver’s doesn’t quite work because it’s easier to make specialists like the Maid than the Ruin Delver; a Maid is a servant and does not claim to be an equal. So we go from there, what class doesn’t like someone who helps them out? And we come to Druid and some of the more Chaotically aligned classes so we make note of that and begin to write from the idea ‘supporter’.

Other Classes: A Maid is a supporter and servant, a friend to all, or at least most. To a wizard they are a bodyguard and an assistant, to a cleric they keep the church running smoothly. Few classes dislike their own servant. When not a servant to an individual still a wizard can respect their discipline and their humility keeps their dabbling in the arcane from grating. A cleric may be slightly annoyed by their divine powers born not from loyalty to a god, but loyalty itself, but at least they can see resonance there, it is loyalty after all. A rogue can admire their myriad skills, a fighter their help in combat, a paladin their devotion, and a monk their discipline.
On the negative side we have barbarians, bards, and druids. While bards love their own maid, and love the concept of having a personal maid, the idea of being one is often alien to such free spirits. To barbarians it is usually similar to the idea of being a willing thrall, a position without any honor to speak of, a maid is a product of civilization after all. Finally druids sometimes see the idea of such a servant as an unnatural thing created by the perversion of civilization; while there are always larger threats to nature, and a maid is nothing to risk life or limb to kill they can be a portrait of the perversion that civilization can create.

And that brings us to the copy-pasted role and the Adaptation section which as an adaptation is dropped. Now all that’s left is to format and make the class. Normally for an ACF/archetype you just list what is changed, but here I’m copy-pasting the entire class of Ruin Delver and re-writing bits.

And having done this I will probably never do it again because the analytical act interferes with the creative and the writing of my steps actually messes up steps that normally are done and forces mental repetition on myself which is boring.

There is also a Step #5 but I can't really walk you through it, it's last minute revisions of the mechanics as you write them, things like '+1 hp/level should be class level, and the morale bonus from Yojimbo should last longer than 1 round make it Mental Specialty rounds'.

And because put together they're over the character limit the class is in the next post.

[Zaydos]

Maid

"Okairinasai Ojousama." - A Maid

The Maid, or Valet if male, is a perfect servant, a supporter for their master, a dabbler in all skills known to man able to perform, if not excel, in all things and to even excel in a variety of fields based upon their deepest focus. They dabble in sorcery, piety, and warfare to better protect and serve their master, working not only to fulfill their needs but even to predict them and ensure the task is all but done by the time their employer becomes aware of it.

Adventures: A maid is a servant, a valet a gentleman’s gentleman, and the most common reason for them to adventure is because their employer wished it. Whether they adventure alongside their (foolish) employer to keep them alive, or adventure for the pay their employer provides while remaining safely at home, it is in the service of another that a maid adventures. In rarer cases a maid will take to adventuring when between proper employment, using this as a chance to develop and hone the wide variety of skills required for perfect service.

Characteristics: A little bit of everything, but not a master of anything. Arcane spells, especially transmutations, are at their beck if not to the extent of a wizard or even a bard, divine magic, especially healing, can be called to their aid as required. They can fight alongside true warriors, if only for a short time each day, and must rely upon magical augmentation to keep up with a barbarian or even a fighter. Their greatest skills lie in their myriad capabilities, every Maid is a master of a few skills and eventually a dabbler in nearly everything. The one place they are outstanding is as an assistant, capable of bringing out the most from an assisting jab or some clever distracting positioning.

Alignment: A maid is usually a willing servant, someone who is mentally prepared to follow their lord or lady not because their lord is more capable than them in any given circumstance but because they are a follower not a leader. As such maids cannot be Chaotic with the overwhelming majority being Lawful. Neutral maids are a rarity but they do exist, caring for a personal loyalty, possibly one between family lines for generations, or following someone they believe is a true leader. For a Neutral maid loyalty is the most important aspect of service. A Lawful maid is more likely to be aware of their social status, of how social status can transcend competence and wealth, and how duty is paramount. Loyalty does remain a prime concern for a Lawful maid, but it is an aspect of duty and not the only one which is important.

Maids come in both Good and Evil, with a tendency towards Neutrality. They are defined more by an orientation towards Loyalty and Duty to their employer, or the house that employs them. As such they typically lack the personal greed and selfishness of evil, but also the strong guiding morals that place all creatures as important. Good maids must either luckily find a Good lord or lady or must face a decision between Loyalty and Good which often ends with Loyalty winning. Evil maids have more freedom but by their nature have already in ways chosen against Evil.

Religion: Maids usually follow a religion based upon their race and culture. If they deviate from the cultural norm they tend towards those gods who praise service, loyalty, and honor as the highest virtues, or else worship the same deities as their lord or lady; this latter is especially true in those maids whose family has worked for their lord or lady’s family for generations.

Background: Most maids are raised into the profession, many come from long lines of servants their life dedicated to training to support a master from youth. The rare maid who wasn’t born into the work is often adopted by their future master’s family, raised to be a protector of their master from youth, or failing that in some way owes their original master for their life, not just in escaping death, but in escaping a life of miserable poverty and having the opportunity to learn their skills. Gratitude is a common source of duty.

Races: A true maid is a rarity among human cultures, they exist but for every hundred servants a single true maid is uncommon. They exist, however. Maids are more common among dwarves and halflings. Dwarves have a tradition of loyalty and duty, of branch families which exist to serve the head family of their clans, as such dwarves may be the most likely race to produce a maid. Halfling maids while rarer than dwarves are common among halfling servants, a strong tradition of loyalty existing. Gnomish maids are all but unheard of, few gnomes work as servants and fewer still serve as such throughout their entire lives, and even those who do rarely see themselves as servants first and foremost. Elven maids are another extreme rarity as, like with gnomes, there are few lifelong servants, however those that do exist are almost certain to be maids, combining elven pride in one’s work with elven dabbling to create a perfect maid. Half-elves and half-orcs are unlikely to have been born into a tradition of service, but they are likely to be born into a state of ostracism and low social standing from which a life of service as a gentleman’s gentleman is one possible escape, and a method with which to raise the standing of your own child so that they do not have to continue the tradition.

Among the less accepted humanoids maids are most common among goblins and hobgoblins. The former are, by Maglubiyet’s doctrine the inferior of the two races and to be kept as servants and slaves by their superiors, many preferring to be the loyal, and well rewarded, servant to being the disloyal and punished slave. Hobgoblin maids are common as well, usually serving those who hold positions of civil authority.

Other Classes: A Maid is a supporter and servant, a friend to all, or at least most. To a wizard they are a bodyguard and an assistant, to a cleric they keep the church running smoothly. Few classes dislike their own servant. When not a servant to an individual still a wizard can respect their discipline and their humility keeps their dabbling in the arcane from grating. A cleric may be slightly annoyed by their divine powers born not from loyalty to a god, but loyalty itself, but at least they can see resonance there, it is loyalty after all. A rogue can admire their myriad skills, a fighter their help in combat, a paladin their devotion, and a monk their discipline.
On the negative side we have barbarians, bards, and druids. While bards love their own maid, and love the concept of having a personal maid, the idea of being one is often alien to such free spirits. To barbarians it is usually similar to the idea of being a willing thrall, a position without any honor to speak of, a maid is a product of civilization after all. Finally druids sometimes see the idea of such a servant as an unnatural thing created by the perversion of civilization; while there are always larger threats to nature, and a maid is nothing to risk life or limb to kill they can be a portrait of the perversion that civilization can create.

Role: A Maid is an excellent second stringer, taking on the role of assistant in all things but the primary in nothing. They serve as a secondary arcanist, capable of casting low level utility spells and transmutation based buffs, secondary healer, capable of adding a decent amount of healing each day, secondary melee combatant, using bonus feats and adrenaline surge to engage in melee, and even as primary skill monkey due to their high skill points, dabbler ability, and skill mastery. In addition, unlike with most stealth based characters, they are capable of assisting their allies in stealth or mobility skills making them valuable for maneuvering through a dungeon without expenditure of magical resources.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
Maids have the following game statistics.
Abilities: As jacks-of-all-trades Maids can make use of a variety of abilities. Dexterity is important for stealth skills, ranged combat, and AC, Strength is important if they wish to join into melee combat, and Constitution has its traditional importance. Among mental ability scores Maids have a distinct choice. As they can select which score to base their magical abilities off of they can focus either on Intelligence for additional skill points, Wisdom for Will saves and perception, or Charisma for social persuasiveness.
Alignment: Any non-Chaotic.
Hit Die: d8
Starting Age: As wizard; training in many diverse fields requires significant time on par with even that of a true mage.
Starting Gold: 5d4 x 10 GP.

Class Skills
The Maid's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (any, each taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (n/a), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Rope (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Points at First Level: (6 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

RUIN DELVER

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+0	+2	+2	Spells, Dedicated Servant, Bonus Feat, Mental Specialty, Loyal Servant +1, Trapfinding
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+3	Skill Instructor, Teamwork Skill
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+3	Quick Search, Loyal Servant +2, Professional Aspect
4th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Adrenaline Surge, Bonus Feat
5th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Automatic Search, Dabbler
6th	+4	+2	+5	+5	Loyal Servant +3, Improved Skill Instruction
7th	+5	+2	+5	+5	Skill Mastery, Expert Aid
8th	+6/+1	+2	+6	+6	Bonus Feat, Automatic Search (+5-ft)
9th	+6/+1	+3	+6	+6	Improved Dabbler, Loyal Servant +4
10th	+7/+2	+3	+7	+7	Skill Mastery, Adept Skill Instruction
11th	+8/+3	+3	+7	+7	Advanced Aspect
12th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+8	Bonus Feat, Loyal Servant +5, Automatic Search (+5-ft)
13th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+8	Skill Mastery, Instant Search
14th	+10/+5	+4	+9	+9	Expert Dabbler
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+9	Loyal Servant +6
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10	Bonus Feat, Skill Mastery
17th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10	Professional Pinnacle, Automatic Search (+10-ft)
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+11	Master Skill Instruction, Loyal Servant +7
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+11	Master Dabbler, Skill Mastery
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+12	Bonus Feat, Maid’s Instruction, Pattern of Excellence

Spells per Day:

Spoiler: Spell Tables

Show

Arcane Spells

Level	0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1	-+1	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	1+1	-+1	-	-	-	-	-
3	2+1	-+1	-	-	-	-	-
4	2+1	0+1	-	-	-	-	-
5	2+1	1+1	-+1	-	-	-	-
6	2+1	1+1	-+1	-	-	-	-
7	2+1	2+1	0+1	-	-	-	-
8	2+1	2+1	1+1	-+1	-	-	-
9	3+1	2+1	1+1	-+1	-	-	-
10	3+1	2+1	1+1	0+1	-	-	-
11	3+1	2+1	1+1	1+1	-+1	-	-
12	3+1	2+1	2+1	1+1	-+1	-	-
13	3+1	2+1	2+1	1+1	0+1	-	-
14	3+1	2+1	2+1	1+1	1+1	-+1	-
15	3+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	1+1	-+1	-
16	3+1	3+1	2+1	2+1	1+1	0+1	-
17	3+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	1+1	-+1
18	3+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	1+1	-+1
19	3+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	2+1	1+1	-+1
20	3+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	2+1	2+1	-+1

Divine Spells

Level	0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th
1	-+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	-+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	-+1	-+1	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	1+1	-+1	-+1	-	-	-	-	-
5	2+1	0+1	-+1	-	-	-	-	-
6	2+1	1+1	-+1	-+1	-	-	-	-
7	2+1	2+1	-+1	-+1	-	-	-	-
8	2+1	2+1	0+1	-+1	-	-	-	-
9	2+1	2+1	1+1	-+1	-+1	-	-	-
10	2+1	2+1	1+1	-+1	-+1	-	-	-
11	3+1	2+1	1+1	0+1	-+1	-	-	-
12	3+1	2+1	1+1	1+1	-+1	-+1	-	-
13	3+1	2+1	2+1	1+1	-+1	-+1	-	-
14	3+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	0+1	-+1	-	-
15	3+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	1+1	-+1	-+1	-
16	3+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	1+1	-+1	-+1	-
17	3+1	3+1	2+1	2+1	1+1	0+1	-+1	-
18	3+1	3+1	2+1	2+1	1+1	1+1	-+1	-+1
19	3+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	2+1	1+1	-+1	-+1
20	3+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	2+1	2+1	-+1	-+1

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Maid.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A Maid is proficient in all simple weapons and one martial weapon of their choice as well as light and medium armor and shields (except Tower Shields).

Spells: A Maid gains the ability to cast limited amounts of spells. They are capable of learning, preparing, and casting spells as a generalist wizard from the wizard spell list (including rules for spell books and adding new spells to their spell book), gaining access to divination and abjuration spells more quickly than other schools. They gain arcane spell slots as listed on the table above; spell slots marked +1 can only be used for abjuration and divination spells and they do not gain bonus spells for high ability scores of any level of which they gain -+1, although they do gain bonus spells if they have 0+1 slots and these bonus spells may be of any school. A Maid begins with 16 cantrips in their spellbook and no other spells, whenever they gain a level they may add 2 spells of any level which they have access to transmutation spells to their spellbook (these spells do not have to be transmutation). They are also capable of preparing and casting spells as a cleric from the cleric spell list, gaining greater access to conjuration (healing) spells. They gain divine spell slots as listed on the table above; spell slots marked +1 can only be used for conjuration (healing) spells and they do not gain bonus spells for high ability scores of any level of which they gain -+1, although they do gain bonus spells if they have 0+1 slots and these bonus spells may be of any school or subschool. They are not considered to have non-Divination or Abjuration wizard spells and non-Conjuration (Healing) cleric spells above 5th level on their spell list, and are not considered to have Abjuration or Divination wizard spells above 6th level or Conjuration (Healing) cleric spells above 7th level on their spell list.

Bonus spells, saving throw DCs, and maximum spell level a Maid can cast are determined by whatever ability score is associated with their Mental Specialty (see below) for both Arcane and Divine spells.

A Maid learns to cast arcane spells in light armor and suffers no arcane spell failure to do so when casting an arcane spell as a Maid and, beginning at 6th level, suffer no arcane spell failure when in medium armor. A Maid may also take Spell Mastery as if they were a wizard.

A Maid cannot use arcane spell slots to prepare divine spells or divine spell slots to prepare arcane spells, and the two are treated as separate lists and prepared separately similar to a multiclass wizard/cleric or a mystic theurge.

Dedicated Servant (Ex): A Maid is a servant, they have trained long and hard to be such and knows how to serve others with a natural ease. As such a maid adds their class level as a bonus on all Profession (butler), (maid), (servant), (valet), or similar profession checks as well as any check to clean or repair an object and may make such checks untrained.

Bonus Feat: At 1st, 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level a Maid gains a bonus feat they meet the prerequisites for. This may be any Fighter bonus feat, metamagic feat, or feat from the list below: Acrobatic, Agile, Alertness, Athletic, Combat Casting, Deceitful, Deft Hands, Diligent, Endurance, Investigator, Magical Aptitude, Negotiator, Nimble Fingers, Persuasive, Self-Sufficient, Tower Shield Proficiency, Skill Focus, Scribe Scroll, Spell Mastery, Stealthy, or Track from the Player's Handbook; Appraise Magical Value, Brachiation, Expert Tactician, Extraordinary Concentration, Hear the Unseen, Improved Swimming, Quick Reconnoiter, and Tactile Trapsmith from Complete Adventurer; Combat Acrobat, Fade into Violence, Keen-Eared Scout, Master Manipulator, Vatic Gaze, and Wanderer's Diplomacy from Player's Handbook II; and Agile Athlete from Races of the Wild.

Mental Specialty: At 1st level a Maid chooses a specialty of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. Their arcane and divine Maid spells are based off of this ability score and at 3rd, 11th, and 17th level they gain an ability related to this choice.

Loyal Servant (Ex): A Maid is a loyal servant to their master, not easily swayed from their duty. Beginning at 1st level a Maid gains a +1 morale bonus to Will saves against Compulsion effects which would make them act against their employer’s interests. This bonus increases by +1 at 3rd level and every 3rd level thereafter.

Trapfinding (Ex): A Maid can find traps as a rogue.

Skill Instructor (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level a Maid may instruct allies in the proper method of performing activities. To do so is a full round action and requires those allies to be able to hear the Maid, although continuing the instructions is a free action (talking). For as long as the Maid continues this instruction the affected allies can use the Maid's skill ranks in a single skill (the same skill for all affected creatures) if they are higher than the allies. A Maid may affect up to 1/2 their class level in allies with this ability at a single time, and all creatures affected must be within 15-ft. Beginning at 6th level a Maid may affect creatures up to 30-ft away, instruct in 2 different skills simultaneously, and the benefits last for 1 round/class level after the Maid stops instructing up to a duration of as long as the Maid was instructing (so if they were instructing for 2 rounds the creatures benefit for only 2 rounds afterwards regardless of Maid level); no single creature may benefit from two instances of the same Maid's Skill Instructor at a time. Beginning at 10th level a Maid may affect creatures up to 60-ft away, instruct in 3 different skills simultaneously, and the benefits last for 2 rounds/class level after the Maid stops instructing up to twice as long as they were instructing for. Beginning at 18th level they may instruct in 4 different skills simultaneously, and the benefits last for 1 minute/class level after they stop up to 10 times as long as they were instructing.

Teamwork Skill (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level the bonus granted and received by a Maid through flanking or the Aid Another action is increased by 2 (normally to +4).

Quick Search (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level a Maid may make a Search check as a move action instead of a full-round action.

Professional Aspect (Ex): At 3rd level a Maid develops a special aspect based upon which aspect of service they choose to focus upon. They may select Ninja Maid, Skillful Maid, or Yojimbo.

Ninja Maid: You gain Sudden Strike +1d6 (as the ninja ability), and you may cast Invisibility and Improved Invisibility with your Abjuration/Divination slots and you may prepare them without having them in your spellbook or without using your spellbook.

Skillful Maid: 1/day per class level plus an additional number of times per day equal to the ability modifier for the score chosen as your Mental Specialty you may use Aid Another as a swift action. If you use this to use Aid Another on the same creature twice in a single round you must either choose to aid different types of rolls (or AC), or you may choose to have it add to the 2nd such roll (or AC against 2nd attack) of that type or, in the case of attack or AC, a second target. The benefits of your Aid Another does not stack with your Aid Another.

Yojimbo: You gain +1 hp per Maid level and you gain the ability to select a Charge. You may only select a creature as your ‘Charge’ once per day as a standard action. You gain a +1 morale bonus to attack and gain +1d6 to weapon damage against any creature that you have seen attempt to harm your charge (anything that would break Invisibility) within a number of rounds equal to the bonus of the ability score chosen as your mental specialty (minimum 1 round).

Adrenaline Surge (Ex): Beginning at 4th level a Maid may call upon buried reserves of resolve. As a free action they may increase their Base Attack Bonus by 1 plus 1 for every 4 Maid levels beyond the first for 1 round; this bonus may never increase their BAB to above their effective character level. They may use this ability 3 + constitution modifier times per day.

Automatic Search (Ex): A Maid's senses are keen enough to pick up the smallest disturbances. Beginning at 5th level whenever a Maid passes within 10-ft of an area to search they are entitled a free search check similar to a dwarf's Stonecunning or elf's Secret Doors. Beginning at 8th level this applies out to 15-ft, increasing to 20-ft at 12th, and 30-ft at 17th.

Dabbler (Ex): Beginning at 5th level Maid gains 2 virtual skill ranks in every skill. These skill ranks add to any ranks they may have but cannot increase their effective ranks above 1/2 their max ranks for class skills (this means it can increase cross-class skills to their absolute max assuming they are cross-class for all classes the Maid possesses) and do not count for qualifying for prerequisites. These virtual ranks do allow them to perform skill checks with the skill as if trained. At 9th level this increases to 4 ranks in every skill, becoming 6 at 14th level, and 9 at 19th level.

Skill Mastery (Ex): At 7th level and every 3rd level thereafter (10th, 13th, 16th, and 19th) a Maid may select one Maid class skill which they have at least 10 ranks in and may take 10 on when not threatened or rushed. They may take 10 on that skill even in a situation in which they would normally be unable to do so.

Expert Aid (Ex): Beginning at 7th level whenever a Maid uses Aid Another to help a creature with a skill check which they have Skill Mastery in that creature receives an additional +2 to that check, in addition any creature that is benefiting from a Maid's Skill Instruction in such a skill and rolls an unmodified 4 or less on such a skill treats it as a 5 before modifiers.

Advanced Aspect (Ex): Beginning at 11th level a Maid's skills improve based upon the Professional Aspect they chose at 3rd level.

Ninja Maid: Your +1d6 Sudden Strike becomes +1d6 Sneak Attack (it now applies when Flanking) and improves to +2d6 sneak attack.

Skillful Maid: Your Dabbler ability improves. From now on it can increase skill ranks to ½ your maximum ranks + 4 and grants 2 more virtual ranks to each skill. This means at 11th level it adds 6 ranks to skills and may increase them to 11 ranks instead of 4 and 7, and at 20th it adds 11 ranks and can increase them to 15 (and a half).

Yojimbo: Your Charge gains a +2 untyped bonus to AC when within your melee reach against any attack you would not be denied your Dexterity bonus against if you were the one being attacked, in addition the bonus to attack and damage against creatures which attack your Charge increase to +2 and +2d6 respectively. Finally you gain a +2 bonus to Concentration checks and all Wisdom based skill checks and ability checks; a bodyguard must have a level head and excellent situational awareness in all things.

Instant Search (Ex): Beginning at 13th level a Maid may make a Search check as a Swift action (and/or a Move action).

Profession Pinnacle (Ex): At 17th level a Maid gains a final benefit based upon their choice of professional aspect.

Ninja Maid: You gain +1d6 Sneak Attack for a total of +3d6 Sneak Attack, in addition if you study your victim for 3 rounds and then makes a sneak attack with a melee weapon that successfully deals damage, the sneak attack has the additional effect of possibly either paralyzing or killing the target (your choice). While studying the victim, you can undertake other actions so long as your attention stays focused on the target and the target does not detect you and recognize you as an enemy. If the you of such an attack fails a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ your maid level + your Mental Specialty ability modifier) against the kill effect, they dies. If the saving throw fails against the paralysis effect, the victim is rendered helpless and unable to act for 1d6 rounds plus 1 round per 2 maid levels you possess. If the victim’s saving throw succeeds, the attack is just a normal sneak attack. Once you have completed the 3 rounds of study, you must make the death attack within the next 3 rounds.
If a death attack is attempted and fails (the victim makes her save) or if you do not launch the attack within 3 rounds of completing the study, 3 new rounds of study are required before you can attempt another death attack.

Skillful Maid: When you use the Aid Another action the creature you aid adds your Mental Specialty ability modifier to their roll as well as the normal bonus from your Aid Another. In addition select one ability score other than your Mental Specialty when making skill or ability checks based upon that ability add your Mental Specialty ability modifier if positive to it as well.

Yojimbo: You gain Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat and may make an attack of opportunity against any creature that attacks your charge (assuming they are, in fact, in your melee reach). Finally you gain DR 3/- against any attack you are not flat-footed against

Pattern of Excellence (Ex): A gentleman’s gentleman, or a true lady’s maid, must excel at all things, with a head that never bends under pressure. Beginning at 20th level you may take 10 on any skill or ability check even if threatened or rushed. In addition once per round you may take 10 on an attack roll.

Maid’s Instruction (Ex): You may instruct Base Attack Bonus and Caster Level as if they were skills. When you do so allies replace their BAB or CL with yours if yours is better. This functions like Instruct Skills and counts against the number of skills you may instruct at a time, but the instruction only lasts as long as you continue and 1 round thereafter per 2 rounds you instructed to a maximum of 1 minute. If your Base Attack Bonus or Caster Level changes so too does this bonus if you are still actively instructing, so it is best to stop with a buffed BAB or CL.

[Zaydos]

@zaydos: wow... your tall tale base class is very very cool :-) and so is the archetype :-)

It will also be a very cool class to use with the KAI disciplines in the lone wolf d20 series of books....

They will fit right in if I select an associated
skill for each discipline

Nice!

Thanks. Tall Tale or Incarnation is probably my most popular, and personal favorite, class I've made, and it's always interesting to expand on TT.

Never heard the Lone Wolf comment before, but it doesn't surprise me too much, I'd not be surprised if some of the abilities happened to draw a bit subconsciously from that series (even if I'd only done about 4 of the first 8 books at the time).

[Zaydos]

New Feat for Thralls - Journal of Madness (VoodooPaladin)

Journal of Madness [Vile]
You scribble the mad insights of your dread masters within a book or series of tomes, writing within them blasphemous words of nightmare and madness.
Prerequisites: Servant of the Old Ones, must possess a fixed amount of spells known which you cast spontaneously.
Benefit: You maintain a journal of the mad revelations of your dreads masters. For each level of spells you possess spells known for select a single spell from your spell list or a Corrupt spell of that level which is 'written' in this journal. Each day when you regain your spells per day you may consult this journal to temporarily exchange one or more of your spells known with spells of the same level within this journal gaining them as a spell known for the day in exchange for the spells chosen to exchange; this exchange lasts until you next regain your spells per day. If you exchange spells in this way you gain the depravity effect of a randomly determined mild depravity until you next regain your spells per day. Whenever you gain access to a new level of spells known you gain a new spell in your journal of the same level.

The writing in your journals is in fact merely blasphemous and nightmarishly disturbing gibberish. It contains no true magical insights, and the change of spells known is merely a delusional placebo effect. If you lose your journal(s) you may make a new one with merely a week of writing of your nightmares and mad 'insights'.

Normal: Your delusions do not grant you additional options for spells known.

[Zaydos]

Scholar of the Dead – New Scholastic Aptitudes (segev)

As a note all these Scholastic Aptitudes are Supernatural in nature.

Re-Animator: You must have at least 8 ranks in Craft (alchemy) and Knowledge (religion) and one other Scholastic Aptitude to select this aptitude. By applying ointments which cost 60 GP per hit die onto a mostly intact corpse of a creature you can cause it to re-animate as a zombie or skeleton depending upon how much flesh remains upon it, under your control. You can create the ointments with a DC 20 Craft (alchemy) check and because much of their cost come from rare (and sometimes illegal) reagents they are crafted at 10 times the normal rate (SP/day or GP/week, meaning that a successful check makes at minimum 6 HD worth). You may only control 4 HD of undead animated with this aptitude per class level, any beyond this number become free willed and typically violent, you may also not reanimate any creature with more racial hit dice than your class level as a zombie or twice that as a skeleton and it may never create an undead creature with more than 20 hit dice.

Corpse Crafter: You must have Re-Animator to select this aptitude. You gain Corpse Crafter or any feat which requires it as a prerequisite as a bonus feat. In addition you can treat undead created by your Re-Animator ability as having been created by a necromancy spell, and you may control an additional hit die worth of undead via Re-Animator per class level.

Craft Ravenous Dead: Requires Re-Animator, Craft (alchemy) 14 ranks, and Knowledge (religion) 14 ranks. By applying ointments which cost 180 GP per hit die onto an intact and fresh humanoid corpse (dead no more than 1 hour/class evel) you can re-animate them as a Gravetouched Ghoul (see Libris Mortis). They may have no more character levels than ½ your class level and count as having twice their actual hit dice for calculating how many undead you control via Re-Animator. As long as you control this ghoul via Re-Animator it is absolutely unable to disobey a direct order, even if it is suicidal, from you and is automatically helpful; if it leaves your control it will become hell bent on vengeance and your death. You may control an additional hit die worth of undead via Re-Animator per class level.

Speaker of the Dead: Requires Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks. You may expend two uses of Applied Knowledge to use Speak with Dead as a spell-like ability (CL = Scholar Level).

Ghost Caller (Game Changer): Requires Knowledge (religion) 14 ranks, and Speaker of the Dead. You gain the ability to call a ghostly companion. This companion is the ghost of a creature of your species with a character level of 6 less than yours and the ghost template. You may summon it to your side from any plane or location that is not warded against teleportation as an act requiring a 30 minute ritual which can be performed once per day. This ghost may enter planes not conterminous with the Ethereal in which case it becomes simply incorporeal and is always fully manifested. If you gain a level your ghostly companion does as well, and if it fails to Rejuvenate it may attempt another check to do so every week until it succeeds. This is a variation on Leadership and a DM should carefully consider any ability that gives a PC an incorporeal minion that they can send off with an indefinite duration, especially in a lower tier game, as such a minion necessitates a change in DMing tactics.

[Zaydos]

New Dragonblooded Warforged Feats (Draconium)

Yeah this one is a stretch, but I just liked the idea too much not to make it and Expanded Dragonblood did have Dragonblood templates for Earth Elementals, a Bloodline , half-dragon types and some draconic feats.

Hoardforged Body [Warforged]
Your body is made from draconium, or in layman terms gold that was part of a dragon’s hoard for long enough that it became infused with a portion of its arcane prowess due to its long slumber there upon. Your composite plating is lighter and thinner allowing for armor to be worn over it, but it is sturdy with a draconic hardness. Its magic hungry nature disrupts the static magic of normal enchantments, but it can absorb gold and gems to gain additional magical energy. Unfortunately it is slightly magnetized towards magic increasing your vulnerability therein.
Prerequisites: Warforged, 1st level only.
Benefit: You gain the dragonforged subtype. The armor bonus from your composite plating becomes a Natural Armor bonus and it does not count as armor in any way allowing you to use armor or a robe over it, access class features that require no armor, and it no longer has an arcane spell failure chance. However you can no longer normally enchant your composite plating, as it absorbs the enchantment into itself, instead any spellcaster capable of Crafting Wondrous Objects can through a 1 hour ritual which requires a store of gold or gems imbue it with a metamorphic enchantment, the gold and gems fusing with your body. Each day you may choose the nature of this enchantment by spending 30 minutes in meditation and it remains fixed thus for 23.5 hours after which it fades and you may meditate to reset its enchantments once more (until it fades you cannot change them).

Having this metamorphic enchantment placed usually has a minimal cost besides the gold used to imbue your body directly (typically 30 GP/CL of the mage who infuses it, but it is simply the cost to get a wizard to spend an hour of their day helping you) and you can add additional gold at any time with a second ritual. However the maximum total value of your metamorphic enchantment is based upon your character level as shown on the table below (it also follows the formula of 150 x Character Level^2). The list of abilities, and the amount of your Metamorphic Enchantment for the day that they cost is also listed below.

Spoiler: Metamorphic Enchantment value and benefits

Show

Level	Max Metamorphic Enchantment Value
2nd	600
3rd	1350
4th	2400
5th	3750
6th	5400
7th	7,350
8th	9,600
9th	12,150
10th	15,000
11th	19,150
12th	21,200
13th	25,350
14th	29,400
15th	33,750
16th	38,400
17th	43,350
18th	48,600
19th	55,350
20th	60,000

+1 Competence bonus to Skill(s): 100 GP per Skill.
+2 Competence bonus to Skill(s): 400 GP per Skill.
+3 Competence bonus to Skill(s): 900 GP per Skill.
+4 Competence bonus to Skill(s): 1600 GP per Skill.
+5 Competence bonus to Skill(s): 2500 GP per Skill.
+2 Enhancement bonus to Ability Score(s): 4000 GP per ability.
+4 Enhancement bonus to Ability Score(s): 16,000 GP per ability.
+6 Enhancement bonus to Ability Score(s): 36,000 GP per ability.
Enchantment on all Natural Weapons: GP cost of said enchantment on a manufactured weapon x 1.5.
+1 Enhancement bonus to Natural Armor: 2000 GP
+2 Enhancement bonus to Natural Armor: 8000 GP
+3 Enhancement bonus to Natural Armor: 18,000 GP
+4 Enhancement bonus to Natural Armor: 32,000 GP
+5 Enhancement bonus to Natural Armor: 50,000 GP
+1 Deflection bonus to AC: 2000 GP
+2 Deflection bonus to AC: 8000 GP
+3 Deflection bonus to AC: 18,000 GP
+4 Deflection bonus to AC: 32,000 GP
+5 Deflection bonus to AC: 50,000 GP
+1 Resistance bonus to Save(s): 500 GP for 1 save, or 1000 GP for all saves
+2 Resistance bonus to Save(s): 2000 GP for 1 save or 4000 GP for all saves
+3 Resistance bonus to Save(s): 4500 GP for 1 save or 9000 GP for all saves
+4 Resistance bonus to Save(s): 8000 GP for 1 save or 16,000 GP for all saves.
+5 Resistance bonus to Save(s): 12,500 GP for 1 save or 25,000 GP for all saves.
Energy Resistance 5: 4000 GP per energy type.
Energy Resistance 10: 12,000 GP per energy type.
+10-ft Enhancement bonus to Speed: 3000 GP.
Improve flight maneuverability by 1 grade: 12,000 GP

However this hoardforged body is not without its disadvantages. You suffer a -1 penalty to all saving throws against Spells and Spell-like Abilities as the mystically resonance picked up by the dragon’s gold pulls magic into you.

Magnetized Draconium [Warforged]
You are able to consciously increase the magic attracting properties of your hoardforged body.
Prerequisites: Warforged, Hoardforged Body, Spellcraft 3 ranks.
Benefit: When a creature adjacent to you is targeted by a non-touch, non-personal spell you may spend an immediate action to change the target to you. If the spell had multiple targets and you were already one of them you receive any damage (or healing) from the spell twice and must make any saving throw twice, but stacking limitations generally prevent most other effects from doubling. This has no effect on area spells.

When a spell’s area includes you, or is adjacent to you, and it is does not originate from a fixed point (the caster, a previous target of the spell, etc) you may, as an immediate action, attract its center towards you. The center of the spell’s area shifts 5 ft straight towards you.

Special: This feat is a supernatural ability.

Draconium Circuit [Warforged]
Your Draconium body magnifies your arcane prowess, and works to give you a stronger presence of being.
Prerequisites: Warforged, Draconium body, Arcane Caster level 1+.
Benefit: You gain +2 Charisma, in addition you gain a +1 to your caster level when casting arcane spells with a saving throw DC based off of your Charisma or when using invocations.

[Eldest]

I'm curious about what you could do with me, I like psionics, improvising everything at the last second, coding (which could be any number of things), and (specifically what I want to see what you do with) avoiding fighting. No problem if you can't, I haven't really interacted with you at all.

[illyahr]

That sounds like Truenaming stuff to me. They re-code the universe to their advantage.

[Zaydos]

…, Scratch on Reality (Eldest)

Vestige Level: 6th.
Binding DC: 26.

No name is remembered for this being, even its seal is hard to keep track of as it fades when written, stone where it is carved eroding with unnatural speed, ink disappearing leaving paper blank.

Legend: Not much is known of this being as they seem to resist knowledge. Half remembered tales surface from time to time, little whispers of stories. Scholars who study the vestiges ultimately claim that they have some relationship with the mysterious beings called whispers although what this connection is they have more difficulty agreeing upon. Some claim that they were simply the first whisper, the first being that reality forgot about and who faded wholly from reality do to it, that they are the Eldest Whisper. Others claim that they were not a whisper, at least not in the modern sense, but that they are the ultimate source of all whispers as they were a being who, in some act of audacity, damaged the very underlying framework of reality, that they tore a rent in the walls of existence and it is through this hole that whispers are forgotten. They write an epic tale of a mortal who in their hubris attempted to change the very nature of reality at its most fundamental point, and who failed in their intent, instead damaging existence so that sometimes people simply fall through the cracks; unfortunately no two tellings of the tale agree and there’s not a bard alive who can remember the details. Some even claim that this nameless being is the eldest vestige, or at least the reason why vestiges exist, that they made the world of vestiges with their transgression.

Special Requirement: … will not manifest in the sight of any creatures other than the binder.

Special Rule: It requires 10 ranks of Knowledge (the planes) to even know … exists as a vestige, or to have been shown the seal after which it requires a DC 15 Will save every week to avoid forgetting the sign (Knowledge ranks avoid this difficulty).

Manifestation: It is hard for those who have bound … to describe the process. …’s manifestation is forgotten the moment that they are no longer visible. Even the best attempts at magically recording the process are vague showing at most a vague humanoid which seems to speak in a whisper.

Sign: Your hair and nails become transparent, with your entire body seeming to shift back and forth between opaque and partially translucent.

Influence: While influenced by ... you shrink from confrontation and notice. You cannot stand to be directly observed or closely analyzed, instead seeking to do whatever you can to go unnoticed. Calling direct attention to yourself fills you with anxiety, making you loath to even draw your allies’ attention to you.

Granted Abilities: While bound … makes it difficult for others to remember you, allows you to remember what others have forgotten, to escape the bonds of magic, cause reality itself to grow uncertain of your location, and to slip past others unseen.

Easily Forgotten: While … is bound people must make a Will save to remember details concerning you when they cannot directly sense you (smell you, see you, hear you, feel you) for longer than 2 rounds. They may still remember events that happened involving you, but the details will be forgotten (if you walk up and stab someone they remember that they were stabbed by something but can’t say for sure who did it, or even whether they were a humanoid; if you are being chased and go around a corner your pursuers will remember they were chasing something, but not what they looked like, or who, or how they lost their quarry). Once a creature can see/sense you again they are able to remember you normally until you leave once more, and any creature which knows you from when you have not had this vestige bound remembers who but not the details concerning your actions while this vestige is bound (unless they succeed on their will save).

Forgotten Knowledge: You gain a +8 competence bonus to Knowledge checks with a DC of 25 or higher as long as the information has existed long enough that more people have forgotten it, or died since knowing it, than currently know it. You may make such Knowledge checks untrained.

Slip Magic: As a standard action you can cause magic itself to forget your existence. This functions as a targeted Dispel Magic used on yourself with no limit to the bonus to your dispel check based on level (using your EBL as your CL). Once you have used this ability you must wait 5 rounds before using it again.

Vanish Shift: As a swift action, you can cause your precise position to be forgotten by reality itself, working your will upon the fabric of reality itself to reappear somewhere within 5 ft per 5 binder levels. While mechanistically similar this is not a teleportation effect. You do not teleport, reality just had you at the wrong pace.

Whispered Form: You gain a +8 competence bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks while … is bound and may hide without cover or concealment, though you still must be unobserved. If you attack a creature you cannot hide from that creature without cover or concealment for 5 rounds.

For Contractors: Enervating Shadows.

For Goetic Knights: Cloak Bind
Basic Bind: You can hide without cover or concealment, and gain a bonus to Hide and Move Silently equal to 1/3rd your Tool Binding Level.
Intense Bind: As long as there is another creature which presents an active threat enemies must make a Will saveto target you in preference to other viable enemies. In addition when you move you may teleport up to your speed.
Deep Bind: You are incorporeal as long as this bound item is worn.

For Vestige Priests:

Spoiler: Spell list

Show

Lv 0: Daze, Ghost Sound, Mending, Open/Close.
1st: Benign Transposition^SpC, Dead End^SpC, Disguise Self, Dispel Ward^SpC, Distract^SpC, Erase, (Nystul's) Magic Aura, Reduce Person, Ventriloquism.
2nd: Baleful Transposition^SpC, Blur, Dimension Hop^PHBII, Dispelling Touch^PHBII, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Misdirection, Obscure Object, Swift Invisibility^SpC
3rd: Alter Fortune^PHBII, Blink, Dimension Step^PHBII, Dispel Magic, Displacement, Nondetection, Regroup^PHBII.
4th: Confusion, Detect Scrying, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Greater Mirror Image^PHBII, Slashing Dispel^PHBII, Translocation Trick^SpC.
5th: Break Enchantment, Dimensional Shuffle^PHBII, False Vision, Modify Memory, Seeming, Teleport.
6th: Disintegrate, Greater Dispel Magic, Mislead, Plane Shift, Tactical Teleportation^CM, Veil
7th: Banishment, Greater Teleport, Insanity, Limited Wish, Mass Invisibility, Solipsism^SpC, Teleport Object
8th: Chain Dispel^PHBII, Ghostform^SpC, Greater Plane Shift^SpC, Maze, Mind Blank, Superior Invisibility^PHBII, Temporal Stasis
9th: Instant Refuge^SpC, Programmed Amnesia^SpC, Reaving Dispel^SpC, Time Stop, Wish

[Eldest]

That is not the direction I expected, but still really cool! Thanks a ton!

[Zaydos]

That is not the direction I expected, but still really cool! Thanks a ton!

Well I haven't done much with psionics, improvisation I do a lot, but combining with the following two would have ended up being another Tall Tale thing and probably have ended up rather on the OP side, so I went with user name plus the remaining two. Which meant the first of something, stealth as one of the best way of avoiding fights (diplomacy tends to snowball, intimidation could have been fun), and damaged the source code of reality in an attempt to hack it just seemed a fun origin for a vestige.

'Course I did think of doing something with a feat for Gnostics, something like Gnostic Improvisational Avoidance with a Diplomacy based ability if you were Good aligned, a Hide based ability if morally Neutral, and an Intimidate based one if Evil at the moment but never could quite get the idea off the ground.